Conflict Renewed
by Rising Lorn
Summary: The union of souls between Navi and Man has produced more harm than good. As Operators expire when their Navis are deleted, terrorist organizations rise in hopes of a new world order. Hikari and co. are in their twenties.


**Notes: This is a work of fiction. I claim no ownership of Megaman and all associated characters, locations and ideas. All events occur within a modified Battle Network timeline and are extrapolated into the future. For the purposes of this fiction, firearms were made scarce at the onset of the Net Navi era.**

_/execute_

Lan Hikari was twenty-four now, a world-renowned Net Battler, no doubt aided by his seemingly innate ability to be at the center of the solution to problems that had threatened the planet over the years. After enduring countless struggles, brushes with death and the loss of friends, both real and digital, it would seem that an individual would be deserving of rest.

This is not so.

Net Battling changed and the composition of Net Navis changed. Navis now contained a small piece of the operator's soul, creating an inextricable bond between the two. The scientific community, particularly the bright individuals at SciLab found this link to be of great interest and an indicator of greater harmony between machine and man.

The link proved disastrous. Now that a piece of the human soul was intrinsically connected to the Navi that it operated, deletion of the Navi would delete the piece of human soul that had once resided within it. Initially, only minor pieces of the human soul were fused into the Navi's code, but scientific advances in Navi composition and operator interface soon inadvertently linked vital pieces of the soul to the Navi.

The deaths began. Deletion of the Navi now killed the operator. Chaos reigned. In an age that knew only digital battles and cyber-terrorism, tangible consequences beyond lost data and Navis arose. A relative calm was established as governments worldwide reacted to this sudden factor and began carefully policing the Net. Citizens were provided with important information regarding their Net surfing and their Navis.

A portion of the report distributed through ACDC town read:

"Following the evolution in Navi/Operator interactions, if the Operator and Navi are closely knit and the Navi is deleted, the Operator will expire. All citizens that have formed close bonds to their Net Navis should take extreme caution while browsing the Net and should refrain from using their closest Navi in Net Battles."

The possibility of death resulting from Navi deletion also did more than simply raise panic in the populace: it piqued the interest of Net Terrorists wishing to make their message more widely heard. Attacks began. Death tolls mounted.

In response to this growing crisis, top Net Battlers around the world began forming teams to protect the populace where the police could not.

Lan Hikari, naturally, found himself once again at the center of the solution to the growing problem.

* * *

><p>"Hey, wake up dumbass."<p>

Lan's eyes blinked open. He looked around the room drowsily before his eyes caught the familiar shape of his PErsonal Terminal. Light poured into the room and illuminated the floor of his room. It was strewn with chips, tools and trash. He groaned and mumbled, "Leave me alone Hub. You got any idea how late I was up last night?"

Hub smirked. "Smoke a cigarette then."

Lan scowled towards his PET. "At least I can get some."

Hub's smirk split into a smile. "You've got a short-ass memory. You forget what you installed last night? You know, BEFORE you went to town?"

Lan slumped back onto his pillow. "Fuck, I forgot. Alright, you win, you win."

A small mumble broke the air next to Lan. "What time is it?"

Lan looked, though futilely, accusingly at Hub, "You woke her up."

Hub chuckled, "Damn. I guess you didn't do as big a number as I thought."

"Go back to sleep Mayl." Lan got out of bed, went over to his PET, and picked it up.

"Hey, what're you doin'?" asked Hub indignantly.

"I'm checking to see if there wasn't some weird ass bug in the program I picked," replied Lan, "It's possible that it has some kind of extreme perversion bug." Lan fiddled around with the coding for and found nothing. "Nothing. You got off lucky Mega."

"Heh. Sorry, but unlike you, I've never had that experience before," explained Hub.

"Yeah. Well, if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep. It's only," started Lan, before noticing the time, "Fuck. Nine a.m.? Are you fucking kidding me?" Lan set his PET against a photograph on his desk and went back to his bed.

Hub looked away, eyes closed, palms raised, "Whoa! Share your ass with someone else man."

Grumbling, Lan got back into bed. "Don't wake me up early then, asshole." He rolled over and faced Mayl, but saw only an empty pillow.

Mayl had sat up in bed. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and yawned. "What time did you say it was Lan? Nine?" The light played off Mayl's face and stretched down, over her breasts and down onto her bare stomach. She shielded her eyes from the light and looked down at Lan.

Lan looked up back at her innocently, "What's wrong?"

"Get up. Come on, Hub was right in waking us up early. We've got errands to run today, remember?" replied Mayl.

Lan rolled over and pouted. "I don't wanna."

Mayl giggled. "Stop acting like a twelve-year old. You don't go from foul-mouthed operator to innocent child over the course of a minute."

Lan scowled over at his PET and got reluctantly out of bed, grumbling, "Fine." He jumped up a bit and snapped to sudden attention as something nipped at his cheek. He turned back and said incredulously, "Did you just pinch my ass?"

"And this is where I leave the room," said Hub pointedly, smirking somewhat, "I guess I better see to Roll."

Mayl laughed, "Is there a problem with that?" Mayl knelt up in bed and started pushing Lan towards the bathroom door.

Lan smirked and made a start towards the bathroom door before making an about-face, tackling Mayl flat on her back and tickling her.

"Hah- s-stop Lan," struggled Mayl between bouts of laughter.

Lan was too busy laughing and enjoying himself to pay this much mind.

In an effort to stop him Mayl forced herself upward and kissed Lan.

And so, the tickling match became a make-out session lasting some ten minutes before the couple stumbled clumsily out of the bed, faces still glued together and made their way shakily to the bathroom.

* * *

><p>Lan and Mayl made their way out of the bathroom an hour or so later, towels wrapped around their bodies.<p>

"That was a nice shower," smiled Mayl fishing out her clothes from the detritus on Lan's floor.

"Yeah, and I didn't expect morning sex to be so enjoyable," said Lan audaciously.

Mayl glanced over at Lan taking clothes from his closet and blushed, "Hey, don't be so crude Lan."

Lan pulled some boxers and T-shirt on and looked back over at Mayl. "So what do you propose I call it then, O Priestess of Social Acceptability?"

Mayl plopped on the bed and began dressing, rolling her eyes all the while, "Don't be so crass." She slipped on her skirt and began smoothing it out. "At least call it love. Sex is something you do…"

Lan rolled his eyes and put on his pants, "With people you don't actually care about. I know Mayl, I know." He slipped his PET over his wrist; though adding considerable bulk, it was much like having a very advanced wristwatch. He walked over to Mayl and gave her a small kiss before beginning a search for his shoes and socks.

Mayl buttoned up her shirt and joined Lan in his search; her shoes were no doubt nearby his.

After ten minutes or so of searching and frequent admonishments from Mayl to Lan on the cleanliness of his room the footwear was found and the two made their way to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Hub meanwhile tended to his own issues and returned to the virtual home that most Navis now had installed in their PET housing. He turned away from the television that acted as a camera for speaking to the operator and returned to his bedroom to find a sleeping, naked Roll. Hub smirked to himself; Lan had accused him of being perverted, but perhaps this accusation was best reversed, as Lan had seemingly spared no expense in modifying the already perverted intercourse program he found yesterday.<p>

The program installed was remarkably flexible; the PET's could be connected together or the Navi in one PET could be transferred to the other to permit the program to perform its intended function: virtual sex. As interesting as this technology was, Hub was far more interested in the fact that he had a way to jack his own "Navi" into the "Net".

Hub lay down next to Roll and stared at the ceiling. The natural high from the events of last night and the good humor of the situation that had just transpired were beginning to ebb and the pressing nature of the dire situation Net Navis faced came rushing back at him like a rampaging rhinoceros.

Just last week he'd been on the front lines with Protoman, Gutsman and Searchman, and he could tell that the war raging on the Net was only getting worse. Each day, the calm that hung over ACDC and many of the surrounding cities grew thinner. Net terrorist attacks were becoming more and more frequent, but what was creating more problems was the nature of each attack: they weren't localized. Different terrorist factions were warring with not only Net authorities, but also other terrorist factions. The result was utter bedlam in the Net. A fraction of the ACDC area had been successfully liberated and reinforced to prevent continued attacks, but every Navi in the area still hung on tenterhooks and sudden loud noises prompted mass disconnects as operators acted on their paranoia.

Hub rolled over to face Roll, still lost in thought. He felt his stomach churn as he remembered how much gorier Net battles had gotten. He could still remember the supposed reasoning for the mandatory update to all Net Navis:

"In an effort to curtail the casualties resulting from Net Battles and the sprouting conflicts across the Net a mandatory update provided free of charge for every PET owner in ACDC will be given out at SciLab over the course of the next week. Summonses are being mailed. All Navis without the update and their operators are liable for legal action, including up to 3 months of jail time and up to 150,000 Zennys in fines.

The update gave Net Navis virtual organs and blood, as well as bones that could be broken and brains to be blown apart. Although the update allowed for the happy little program that Lan had gratefully installed on Hub and Roll, it also made for grotesque scenes in an activity that was once used purely for sport.

Hub shuddered and rolled flat on his back. He'd lost count of how many Navis he had seen suffer disembowelment, decapitation and amputation. Unless the operator reacted within milliseconds with a recovery chip to save his Navi, he was next. Hub was grateful that at the very least, the operator didn't suffer the exact same fate that his Navi did. As far as medical science could tell, every corpse suffered brain and heart failure simultaneously.

Roll stirred next to Hub and he saw her eyes flutter open. She smiled softly, put an arm across his chest, and tried to draw him closer.

Shortly distracted from his worries, Hub kissed the crown of Roll's head. "Morning sleepyhead," he said affectionately.

Roll wriggled closer to Hub and placed her head on his chest. "Morning Mega. You're up a bit early," she said sleepily. She closed her eyes.

"Just harassing Lan. That was some program, huh?" he said airily.

Roll's eyes flew open and she felt herself blush violently. She had almost forgotten. She then became painfully aware that her naked body was pressed very close to Hub's. She struggled a bit, looked up into Hub's face, and began trying to stutter a reply. "Uh, um, y-yes, it, um…" Her stutters faded off into mumbling and she looked down at her chest, blushing.

Hub laughed and gave Roll a small pat on the head. "That's quite alright; you can give me your real thoughts when you feel you're ready."

Roll stayed in bed with Hub for another fifteen minutes or so before squeaking out, "It was nice." Hub figured it was the best he could ask for and gave her a loving kiss.

* * *

><p>Lan and Mayl had just finished their breakfast when a knock rang out from the door. It was Raika. "Raika! What're you doing here? I thought you were bogged down in Sharo with attacks," said Lan incredulously.<p>

Raika shook his head, "I was summoned here by Chaud. We'll talk inside."

The two stepped into the kitchen. Mayl gave Raika a cheery wave. Raika gave Mayl a swift smirk before turning his attention to Lan. "There's a two-pronged attack mounting downtown," he began gravely, "Chaud expects high casualties and the loss of a significant sector of the ACDC net if we don't counter-act the push."

Lan nodded. "So where're they coming from? Two different sides of ACDC?"

Raika looked at the ground, troubled. "Not quite." He rummaged in one of his pockets and procured a Px4 Storm. He flipped the pistol in his hands and presented the grip to Lan. "This attack is both real and digital."

Mayl stared at the gun Raika held in his hand and felt her stomach fall through the floor. She hadn't seen an actual gun her entire life. They were relics of an era long past; one filled with war and destruction.

Lan stared uneasily at the gun as well. He'd seen them before: it came with the territory in the new age of the Net. Now, however, to be presented with one, to have to actually kill a person he could see in front of him made him shudder. He had enough trouble knowing that many of the Navis he and Hub deleted resulted in deaths, but now, he would be in Hub's shoes. The violence wouldn't be viewed through a screen. It'd be happening before his eyes. Reluctantly, Lan grabbed the pistol presented to him.

Raika took off the pack he was carrying with him and opened it. He handed Lan a combat vest and four extra magazines. Lan put on the vest and tucked away the magazines. Everything around him was drifting away; the entire experience felt so unreal.

From a long distance away, he heard a voice call to him. "We'll be jacking into the downtown area on site. We need to move out."

Lan felt himself fly back to reality. Raika was staring at him, a look of concern on his face. Lan shook his head drowsily, "Alright. Mayl, you need to stay here."

Mayl didn't bother to argue. She usually accompanied Lan into many of the battles he'd recently fought, but in this instance, she could tell he wasn't going to stand for her going into a battlefield. She took her PET and uploaded Roll onto it from Lan's.

* * *

><p>Hub and Roll didn't expect this sudden turn of events, and the two understandably reacted with annoyance.<p>

"Thanks for letting me know you'd be ripping my girlfriend out from arms," said Hub huffily.

Roll simply glared at Mayl.

Lan apologized to Hub. "I'm sorry Hub, but this is urgent. We have an attack in downtown to deal with. You'll be working with the usual crew."

Hub's annoyance ebbed away instantly, replaced with alertness. "Alright. When do we leave? Where am I jacking in?"

Lan looked around shiftily. "It's an on-site connect. We have to get close to the activity where the Net Terrorists are attacking. And…they're attacking in person too." Lan held up the pistol.

Hub looked away at the ground. A mix of emotions flooded his body: anger, sadness, worry, fear. Lan already risked his life operating him in the increasingly dangerous Net, now he would be risking his life in person. "Nothing we can do to avoid it?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Lan looked down guiltily. "No," he mumbled, "there isn't." He risked Hub's life and by that convention, his life, by Net Battling, but if he died in real life, Hub would still be around, alone.

Raika shook the brothers out of their stupor. "We've got to get moving. Lan, follow close behind me and duck when I say so." He looked at Mayl and nodded briskly.

Lan turned and gave Mayl an impassioned kiss. "I'll be back. I promise;" said Lan softly, "Love you."

"Love you too, Lan," said Mayl quietly. She gave him a quick embrace and then let him go.

Hub composed a quick video message for Roll and sent it. He received a video response of Roll wishing him luck and pleading with him to be careful, along with her love.

Lan and Raika ran out of the house and away, leaving Mayl to wave sadly at their retreating backs.

* * *

><p>Lan and Raika huffed along towards downtown ACDC as Raika explained the rest of the situation, "The terrorists are holding seven key areas of the center of downtown and are holed up in buildings. The local police force is trying to help and we've received some military support, but for the most part it's necessary for us to liberate the Net."<p>

Puzzled, Lan huffed a question. "What do these terrorists want with downtown ACDC? It seems like a completely useless attack."

Raika shrugged, "I'm not sure. There isn't anything of particular value in downtown ACDC. There are a few chip shops, some program shops and a couple of grocers, but these terrorists have plenty of chips, programs and food."

Lan thought over the situation in his head. "There has to be something downtown that they want that we aren't considering. It's not SciLab…"

Raika stared forward. The crack of gunshots and strained shouts of men were getting louder and louder. Lan felt dread rising in his stomach.

After a few more minutes of running, the gunshots and shouts were at a fever pitch and Lan was huffing, heart racing and eyes wide behind a bullet hole riddled car. Dex and Chaud crouched next to him, both grimy and visibly strained. Chaud was holding a Mk 14 mod 0 EBR and Dex wielded an M1014. Both were wearing combat vests; Chaud was wearing a helmet. Dex gave Lan a friendly grin before becoming serious again and peeking around the car. Chaud gave Lan a curt nod. His face was contorted with concentration and he occasionally would squeeze of a few shots in the direction Dex told him.

Up ahead, several police officers and two men clad in army fatigues crouched behind various pieces of cover: cars, pillars and storefronts. A dead officer was lying fifty or so feet away from their position, a pool of blood surrounding his body.

Raika moved in close to Lan, wielding a PSG-1 and shouted in his ear over the din, "Give me covering fire! I'm going to get into that shop next to us and set up a sniper position." Lan nodded. His first taste of real combat. He stared down at the pistol in his hand and switched off the safety.

"Here," yelled Raika in Lan's ear. He was holding a small headset. "I'll radio you when I'm safely inside the building."

Lan put the headset in. The din in his left ear was muted somewhat.

Raika moved to the edge of the car, his hand on Lan's shoulder. A short pause in fire occurred and Raika patted Lan's shoulder several times before taking off in a full sprint. Lan stood up behind the car and squeezed off several shots towards the direction Chaud last shot. He heard Raika yell in his ear that he was in the building, followed immediately by a piercing shriek of pain.

"What the fuck was that!" screamed Lan at Chaud.

Chaud looked up over the car shortly and then settled back down. "You hit a guy. I'll ask Raika for a sit rep." He shouted into his headset, "Raika! 200 meters down the street; center, next to the blue car."

Raika aimed his rifle down the street and peered into the scope. He caught sight of the injured terrorist. "Non-fatal wound. Someone's trying to get closer to him. Hang on," said Raika quickly.

Down the street, Lan heard the man yelling, "MEDIC! HURRY!" He felt his insides squirm. He had actually shot someone. His stomach threatened to empty itself. He heard a voice in his ear.

"The medic's moving in," murmured Raika. A sharp crack rang out. Lan peeked out from cover and saw a small spurt of blood explode out of the medic's head.

"FUCK, SNIPER!" screamed the injured terrorist. The medic's body fell heavily on him as he tried to crawl away. "SOMEONE FUCKING HELP ME!" He was crying hysterically now. A second crack rang out.

Lan saw a second spurt of blood erupt, this time's from the injured party's face. He turned back into cover and fell on all fours. He puked.

Chaud looked down at Lan and patted him on the back. "Welcome to the past Lan," he said gravely.

Raika began talking into the headset: "They're falling back. We can move up ahead to a jack-in point."

A loud boom rang out. Lan ducked his head instinctively. "The fuck was that!" he shouted.

"Enemy sniper! Enemy sniper! Don't move from cover!" shouted Raika angrily. He scanned the surrounding buildings for a sign of movement or perhaps the flash of a scope. He caught sight of the sniper as a piece of wall exploded next to him. "Shit! He's using a .50!"

Lan didn't know what a fifty was, but he could tell by Raika's voice that it was bad. Chaud and Dex looked visibly more distressed. Lan could just make out Chaud swearing quietly to himself over Dex's string of profanity.

"Lan, we need to get into the building next to us. That .50 will rip straight through this car," ordered Chaud, "All units, get to more substantial cover, we've got an anti-materiel sniper to contend with." Chaud motioned for Lan to run to the building Raika ran into.

"Are you crazy Chaud? That sniper'll shoot at us if he sees us running into that building!" shouted Lan fearfully, "Besides, Raika already told us not to move!"

Chaud stared at the ground, thinking hard.

Raika's voice came alive over the headsets in their ears, "Don't move! I've got this guy's position. Just need him to fire one more time." A third crack rung out followed by a fourth, this time much closer to Lan. Raika had fired. "He's down. I'm moving to that building to procure his gun. We could use a light fifty. You guys take whatever the medic and his buddy had on them and use them."

Lan looked at Chaud, confused. "Why're we taking their stuff?"

Chaud explained to Lan, "We need all the firepower and ammo we can get. Weapons and ammunition are rare now. You can take whatever that guy you shot had on him."

Dex moved closer to Lan and gave him a rough pat on the back. "That's what Chaud and I did when we first started fighting this morning. I took down a guy that had this," holding up the shotgun in his hands, "and Chaud took down a guy using that sweet battle rifle."

Lan was almost taken aback by how cheery Dex was, before remembering that he had the same zeal for Net Battling, even with the risk of death that now accompanied it.

Lan approached the corpse and retched again. Virtual gore couldn't compare to gore upfront, and virtual bodies didn't have virtual bowels to empty either; the stench was horrendous. He looked down and saw that the man had been using a submachine gun. He picked it up and started emptying its pockets, taking ammo from them and finding another pistol and several magazines for it. The pistol was different from his. "What're these?" he asked, still struggling to keep what little of his breakfast remained down.

Chaud looked over the pistol and read off the name on the slide of the pistol. "Springfield Armory 1911A1," he said slowly.

Raika rejoined the group and noticed the pistol Chaud had. "That's a good pistol. It's bloody ancient though. Still, it's effective, even now." He turned to Lan. "It's up to you if you want it. Holds less ammo, but it does have more stopping power."

Lan suddenly felt himself make a strange connection between battle chips and firearms. "What about this gun here?" he said, holding up the submachine gun.

Raika looked at it for a second before saying, "It's a suppressed MP5. Excellent gun; the round's a bit weak, but its quiet and the collapsible stock makes it easy to carry."

Lan hefted the gun about. It was light and aiming it was easy after he adjusted the stock. He loaded up his vest with magazines and reloaded the MP5. He took the 1911 and turned to Raika. "Can I give this…um…Px4 to Mayl?" he asked quietly.

Raika considered Lan for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you can," he said finally.

Lan thanked Raika and tucked the Px4 and excess mags into a back pouch. He holstered the 1911.

"Hey! What the fuck are you guys standing around for?" yelled a voice some distance away. It was a soldier. "Get a move on! We need support!"

The group rushed on, their moment of rest now over. They settled in behind cover in a store that had a computer connected to the Net.

Chaud took command. "Alright, Lan, you and I will be leading the charge against the terrorists. Gutsman and Searchman will join us once we make a significant enough push towards the enemy Navis, allowing Dex and Raika to keep us covered as we operate. This doesn't excuse you from staying wary of your surroundings. A wall could collapse or we could be bum-rushed. If that happens, jack out immediately and get fighting."

Lan nodded. "Alright Hub, jack in."

Hub nodded and was transferred to the Net.

The air around him was exploding with noise. Shouts, cries, cannon fire and the rhythmic drumming of a Vulcan mixed into a cacophony of noise. He felt an arm slam him into the ground while shouting, "Keep your head down! You wanna end up like that guy?" A hand gestured to a decapitated Navi. Hub looked away in disgust.

He ran towards a small line of Rock Cubes and took cover behind it. Within a few short seconds, he was joined by Protoman.

"What the fuck kind of Vulcan is that?" shouted Hub to the swordsman.

"It's not a Navi-grade Vulcan," shouted Protoman back, "It's an illegally modified chip that creates a Navi-operated dual Vulcan turret!"

Hub peered from cover and saw what Protoman was talking about. It was a fearsome sight; the turret had two rapidly spinning, red-hot Vulcans firing an endless volley of shots at various pieces of cover and any Navi foolish enough to expose himself for more than a second to return fire.

Hub brought up a small screen before his face so he could talk directly to Lan. "Lan, upload some chips for me!" he shouted.

Lan nodded and pulled a few chips out of a pouch in his pocket. Over the years, his chip collection had grown to monumental size and his folder was filled more or less entirely with elite-grade chips. He held in his hand a MegaCannon chip and two VariableSword chips. "Uploading them Hub," he yelled over the din on his end.

Hub stuck his arm out in front of him and transformed it into a cannon. "Thanks Lan!" he yelled into the screen before closing it. He peeked around the RockCube again and waited for the Vulcan operator to aim away from him. A sudden cannon shot exploded on the rock face next to him and he ducked quickly back into cover. Within seconds, the Vulcan volley riddled the RockCube. "Fuck! What was that?" he screamed to himself.

Protoman looked around his own RockCube before ducking back behind it. "He's got a spotter! He caught a glimpse of you and fired a tracer shot!" he yelled to Hub.

Hub looked at Protoman incredulously, "Who the fuck uses a CANNON as a tracer round!"

Protoman smirked in spite of himself. "It works, doesn't it?" he said over the racket.

Hub turned and looked to the adjacent RockCube, where two Navis were taking cover. Vulcan shots and cannon fire exploded across the cube amidst an ominous rumble. The cube shattered into pieces and the Navis behind it quickly disintegrated amidst the hail of fire. One fell to the floor, holes the size of soda cans punched through its body and missing a head. The other was hit full on by a cannon blast, rocketing arms and legs in different directions and creating an enormous splatter of blood behind it. Bits of bone and organs rained down from the sky, like perverted confetti.

Hub tried to ignore the sight and focused on fighting. He leaned out of cover and fired off a shot at the spotter. He saw arms and legs fly into the air and rain down on the ground, spraying blood everywhere. Direct hit. "I got the fuck!" shouted Hub to Protoman.

"Now we just need to rush that turret," replied Protoman.

Hub looked at Protoman wildly. "Are you fucking crazy! That's a good way to get us all killed!"

Protoman scowled at Hub. "I'm not an idiot." He turned his free arm into a shield. "Stay behind me! When I give the signal, flank him and kill him; I don't care how!"

Protoman ran out from his cover, shield held up and Hub followed close behind him. He heard the horrible sound of ricocheting bullets. Protoman was making audible grunts of exertion.

"Now! Flank him!" shouted Protoman over the din.

Hub jumped out from behind the safety of the shield and broke into a full sprint, aiming to go diagonally left of the turret, hopefully so he could get outside of its turn radius. He turned his head back to look at Protoman; he was still managing against the fire, but he knew he wouldn't be able to take much more punishment.

Hub turned to look at the gunner and saw he was fixated solely on Protoman. He took this opportunity to turn his arm into a blade and rushed forward. The gunner turned and looked at him a second too late to react and felt a sharp pain sink into his stomach; instinctively, he grabbed the hilt of the sword. Hub stared at into the gunner's eyes and saw them go wide. The gunner coughed, spraying blood all over Hub's face. His eyes rolled upwards, and he released his grip on the blade before staggering back a few steps and falling onto his back. He gave a shudder and a gasp and then moved no more.

Protoman rejoined Hub a few seconds later; he was panting heavily. "You alright?"

Hub's arm reverted to normal and wiped the blood off his face. "I'm fine. Are you ok?"

Protoman nodded. "This one didn't even come close."

Hub opened a window to talk to Lan. "That's it; we've got the Vulcan gunner and his spotter down. It's safe for the armed forces' Navis to go through."

Lan thanked Hub and jacked him out. He had been fortunate that no terrorists had rushed their location. He looked at Chaud and smirked a bit, "Alright then, looks like our guys can move forward now!"

Chaud looked back at Lan coldly. "There are still six more turret encampments to go."

Lan's smirk faded from his face, replaced instead with a grimace.

* * *

><p>The fighting had been remarkably intense or so said Chaud, for a section of downtown ACDC that was virtually useless.<p>

Lan sat on a piece of broken cement. The hand guard of his MP5 was resting on his shoulder and the stock was resting on the ground. He was playing with his pistol, pulling the slide back and forth and checking it for rust like Raika had told him. All of it seemed to be in order. The weapons they were using were ancient; firearms had been outlawed following the advent of the Navi-era, and various statistics suggested that as many as 95% had been destroyed.

Lan was tired, more tired than he had ever been in his life. Raika had handed him a canteen filled with water. He drank deeply from it; for six hours, he fought alongside his friends and the fellow armed forces for a three-block stretch of land. All in all, the casualties totaled twenty-six, fifteen of which were deaths; three weren't expected to see the morrow and two would remain permanently disabled. Thirty-seven terrorists had been taken down, four of them were wounded and one had killed himself after he was cornered in the last room of the last building. None of it seemed worth it. They hadn't found a scrap of information that lead to why the terrorists attacked where they did.

Lan looked over at Dex, who was busy gleefully looking over the weapon haul. Every so often, an excited shout would issue from his mouth over some rare treasure. Raika meanwhile had disappeared into a building with the three remaining soldiers that had survived alongside Lan, Chaud and Dex.

Raika emerged from a building, adjusting his gloves, alongside the three soldiers that had entered with him and one terrorist.

"What happened to the other three?" asked Lan, holstering his 1911 and standing up.

Raika looked Lan squarely in the eyes for a good minute. Something must have told him that Lan could take it because he then said, "Executed. They didn't divulge to us what they knew."

Lan's jaw dropped. Raika was cold and efficient, but he wasn't prepared to hear this. "Did you really have to kill them though?"

Raika considered Lan again for a few seconds. "Well, it was the only way to get him to talk."

Lan looked at the terrorist. He did indeed look frightened. He then noticed an awful smell coming off him. "What the fuck is that stench?"

Raika looked puzzled for a moment before a look of comprehension dawned on him. "Ah, yes. He pissed himself."

Lan looked at the terrorist. A feeling of pity welled up inside him. War or not, a human was a human.

"Anyway," began Raika, "He told us what it was they were looking for. It's in that chip shop right there." He gestured to the shop behind Lan.

Raika told the soldier next to him to place C4 on the wall behind the register. The group stood clear of the building as the charge detonated and waited for the dust to settle.

Inside the freshly blown wall wasn't the shop behind the chip shop, but instead a room filled with weapons and crates of ammunition.

Dex whooped with glee. "A secret stash! Fuck yeah!"

Lan looked around the walls. They were adorned with so many weapons he felt that he needed an extra pair of eyes to take it all in.

Raika and Chaud looked visibly pleased.

One of the soldiers spoke up, "Don't get too happy boys; this stuff is going to the military and local police force.

Dex's smile faltered a bit. "Great, so all the good toys are going to you guys?" he asked.

Raika turned to the soldier and handed him a small slip of paper. The soldier read it for a few moments before heaving a sigh. "Fine. One apiece. The rest is ours," he said reluctantly.

Dex looked up, interest piqued. "What happened Raika?"

Raika informed Lan and co. that because they were an integral part of the operation's success, that they were permitted first take on the spoils.

"There'll be more of these missions in the future, Lan," started Raika, "And you need to be equipped as best as you can."

"Just like Hub?" asked Lan. Raika nodded.

The four entered the weapons cache and began perusing the walls. Raika contented himself with a Cx4 Storm. Its lightweight nature, pistol caliber bullet and fully automatic capability made it ideal as a sniper's back-up weapon for close quarters. He kept the M82A1 he procured from the enemy sniper as well, and handed his PSG-1 over to the soldiers.

Chaud too, decided on a sidearm; the EBR he had was a sufficient primary weapon. He decided upon a Taurus Raging Bull revolver, chambered for the .454 Casull round. It was an efficient decision, as the weapon could also chamber the .45 ACP round.

Dex, predictably, settled on an even bigger gun than the one he had in his possession and took an Atchisson Assault Shotgun, otherwise known as the AA-12. Dex had the good fortune of acquiring one that had a 32-round drum magazine attached to it.

Lan perused the walls of the cache longer than anyone else had. He didn't know what to choose: all of these guns were foreign to him, because he had never had any interest in weaponry unless it was in battlechip form. He moved slowly from the wall that displayed handguns to the wall that displayed shotguns. He moved again to the wall holding assault rifles and a few snipers. He didn't know what to choose.

At last, one gun caught his eye. It had a foregrip attached and a folding stock. He took it off its rack and hefted it. It felt better in his hands then the MP5 he had found. He turned to Raika and asked him what the weapon was. Raika looked at it for a moment before saying, "It's a UMP-45. Excellent gun; compact and it fires the same round your pistol does. It's up to you if you want to replace your MP5 with it. You can probably find a suppressor lying around to attach to it."

Lan looked around the room and eventually found a silencer. He screwed it onto the gun and gave Raika his MP5, who then handed it over to the waiting soldiers.

The soldiers nodded to the group and bade them goodbye. The terrorist was handed over to Raika: he would be taken in for further questioning. As the five walked back up the road they saw a few military personnel vehicles pass by along with a few trucks. Lan figured the trucks would haul weapons and ammunition. When they were well clear of the city Raika turned to the three other Net Battlers and thanked them. "It isn't very often that a Netbattler would risk his own neck, but with how the world is shaping itself now…" he heaved a sigh, "Well, I wish I could tell you all that the worst is over, but this is just one of presumably hundreds of attacks set to riddle this city, and perhaps even this entire region. Stay alert, because you're all on-call until this entire mess is sorted out." He shook each of their hands individually and bade them farewell, pushing the terrorist off in a different direction, Cx4 aimed at the back of his head.

The three remaining fighters set off towards their homes in relative silence. Each of them had been called into combat for the first time ever today: Chaud and Dex were simply lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been called in first. Even though he knew, they had been fighting only a few hours longer than he was, Lan couldn't help feeling some strange divide between his two friends and himself: they seemed to be real soldiers to him, and he was nothing more than a poor, frightened bastard.

Dex and Chaud both gave their farewells to Lan and set off towards their homes. Lan continued on his way home. A few minutes away from home, he looked down at his PET and asked Hub how he was doing.

"I'm ok Lan," said Hub wearily, "It's the same old story for me when it comes to Net Battling. It's just a hell of a lot messier now."

Lan looked back guiltily. "I never realized what it was I put you through by Net Battling."

Hub waved an airy hand and mustered a grin; "Don't go soft on me Lan. Now is not the time for softness."

Lan felt sick to his stomach. Hub's reassurances did not reach him. The bottled emotions from combat and the concurrent realization of what had happened, and what _could_ happen flooded him. He fell on all fours and retched. Nothing came up. He retched again and felt nothing but spittle come out his mouth.

"Lan! Lan! You ok?" shouted Hub from his PET.

Lan looked down at his PET, wiping the spit from his mouth. "I'm fine Hub," he said uneasily. He looked around. He was outside his apartment.

Lan had some difficulty getting up the stairs, but within a short while finally got into his apartment. Mayl was sitting in the living room, a look of unease on her face as she watched a news report of what had happened downtown. She turned to see Lan opening the door to the apartment and rushed to give him a bone-crushing hug.

"You're alive," she wept, "you're alive."

Lan clumsily patted Mayl on the head. Her embrace was warm and reassuring, but he still felt sick and disoriented. "It's alright Mayl, I'm fine," he cooed, "Mostly."

Mayl held Lan at arm's length and looked him over. "What do you mean mostly? What happened?" she asked, fear creeping across her face.

Hub spoke up from his PET. "Just shell shock Mayl," he explained helpfully, "Lan's coming out of combat, and since this was his baptism by fire, he's really disoriented. He's been running more or less on pure adrenaline and fear for the past few hours; his body, and mind, are trying to cope with the jarring change."

Mayl looked at Lan worryingly. "He'll…he'll be fine though…right?" she asked.

Hub hesitated. He figured he'd lie for now. "Of course Mayl," he said bracingly, "I'm fine, aren't I?"

Lan picked up on what Hub was doing and joined in. He straightened up and gave Mayl a reassuring smile. "Yeah," he said, "Hub's right. I'll be ok Mayl."

Mayl looked somewhat less worried and nodded.

Lan perked up considerably and began rummaging in his assault vest. "I almost forgot," he said, and procured the Px4 he saved for Mayl. He handed it to her along with two extra magazines.

Mayl took the weapon and ammunition so gingerly from Lan it seemed she was afraid that it would fire if she held it wrong. "Why are you giving me this?" she asked, holding the weapon as if it were a bomb.

"You'll need protection now; there's no telling what might happen, and I'll feel better leaving you alone if you've got something to protect yourself with," explained Lan, "I'll teach you how to use it tomorrow. Chaud or Raika can go over the specifics, but I can at least tell you how to aim, fire and reload."

Mayl nodded.

* * *

><p>"I don't know how I feel about you covering my ass back there Hub," said Lan, alone with his brother on the balcony outside. Mayl was inside, sound asleep.<p>

"Don't bother thinking about it then," said Hub, "It was an out and out lie what we said; these experiences aren't ever going to leave you alone Lan."

Lan stared off at the horizon. He felt uneasy. After hours of hearing shouts and gunfire, the sudden silence put him off. "This is so weird Hub," he said after a long silence, "first of all, I get to go home after each day's fighting. That makes no sense. Every story I've read about soldiers talks about how they're always away for months or years at a time. Secondly, why am I so…ambivalent about the upcoming battles."

Hub sat in a pensive silence. At last, he spoke, "Well Lan, you'll get used to how strange your schedule is soon enough, and we'll never know if you end up having to do regular soldiering until it happens. As far as your ambivalence, it's just an effect of the shock. You'll tire of combat soon enough though, trust me."

"This is nothing like conventional warfare," mumbled Lan.

"These enemies are nothing like conventional antagonists," responded Hub.

Lan stared into his PET at Hub.

"War, Lan, has no victors. I can't put it any more simply than that," said Hub.

* * *

><p>Lan got less than an hour of sleep that night, waking up constantly in cold sweats after increasingly horrifying nightmares.<p>

By morning, his eyes showed signs of having gotten no rest, he was lethargic and his posture was slouched. A cup of coffee and sympathy from Mayl helped somewhat, but he still felt staggeringly tired. A knock came the front door. It was Chaud. Lan invited him into the kitchen for coffee. Chaud agreed.

"Morning Mayl," said Chaud crisply before turning to Lan. "Today will be a bit better Lan, we're defending this time, not attacking."

Lan stared wearily into his cup of coffee. One day of combat had robbed him of more energy than he thought he possessed. "What're we defending?" he asked.

Chaud handed Lan a map with a location outlined with a thick red square. It was Higsby's Chip Shop. Lan almost knocked over his cup of coffee. "They're going to attack Higsby's fucking shop?" he burst out angrily.

Chaud nodded morosely.

"Why? What the fuck do they need with that place?" fumed Lan. He was tired, confused and outraged.

"Blank chips and stock chips. Higsby has one of the largest caches in the city now since his business has expanded so much. With blank chips the terrorists can write whatever programs they want onto the chips, and with stock chips they can illegally modify them," explained Chaud.

"When is the attack expected?" asked Lan, energy returning to him slowly.

"We don't know. We just know it's coming. Could be today, tomorrow or next week; it's possible it couldn't happen at all," said Chaud vaguely.

Lan stared back at his half-empty coffee cup. "When do I need to leave?" he asked.

"In thirty minutes. Get ready, gather up ammunition, and head over to Higsby's. Ask for Raika or me: the army is assisting us again and has set up a checkpoint outside of the store," said Chaud. "I'll see you there." He excused himself and left.

Mayl looked at Lan, worry permeating her face once again. He did his best to act cheery. "Cheer up, Mayl," he cooed, "I'll be fine."

Mayl looked into his face, teary-eyed. "No, Lan," she whispered, "No, you might not be." Lan felt a sharp pain in his chest. She was right.

* * *

><p>Lan set off towards Higsby's a short while later, tac-vest filled with ammunition and pistol holstered. His UMP swung lazily to and fro, as he walked towards the chip shop, dread growing with every step. He at last saw the shop: it had changed greatly over the years. Now a massive warehouse some ten thousand square feet in space, it featured a chip shop in the front nine hundred square feet large. Army personnel stood at attention in front of the shop, where sandbags had been set up. Lan caught sight of a large gun mounted on the sandbag, a long belt of ammunition running out of it into a box beside it. He turned and saw Chaud talking with one of the soldiers and called out to him. Chaud turned and saw Lan; he gave him a wave to hold on a minute and finished talking with the soldier. He walked over to Lan. "What's the problem?" he asked.<p>

Lan pointed at the mounted gun. "What is that thing?"

"Mounted machine gun. It's an M249 SAW, squad automatic weapon. Produces a huge volume of fire to suppress enemies that may try to attack us," explained the soldier.

"Hope you're ready Lan. It's entirely possible that we'll be besieged for who knows how long," said Chaud. Lan looked intently at the chip shop; what sort of battle would unfold at this shop, if at all? Chaud tapped Lan on the shoulder. "Snap out of it; you're due for a briefing alongside Dex. The soldiers have already been briefed."

Lan nodded. The two walked into the shop, leaving the soldier to his weapon. Inside the shop were Raika and Dex, amidst a small group of soldiers. The two approached them. Dex greeted Lan cheerily. Raika gave him a curt nod.

"With everyone here, I'd like to begin the briefing. The warehouse has six ten by five windows in the slanted roof to let in light, along with two ten by fifteen foot doors for the main entrance and one standard door to access the back room of the shop. All in all, defending the warehouse will be a much simpler task than the urban fighting we underwent a short while ago: we can occupy the high-ground and we've set up several pieces of cover using sandbags along with a few stacks of crates on the ground floor and on the walkway that runs around the warehouse. Keep in mind that the crates are hollow and will only be good for concealment, not cover," explained Raika.

"What do you mean?" asked Lan nervously.

"Cover means bullets won't kill you when you're behind it. You're out of view and protected, for the moment. Concealment is something that bullets will punch straight through and into you. To be honest, the sandbags won't be of much use after a few rounds either, so keep moving," supplied Raika.

Lan shuffled his feet nervously. He was disliking the thought of fighting in the warehouse more and more. "What's the objective?"

Raika looked at Lan with a look of slight confusion. "We're defending the warehouse. There's no other objective. Kill or be killed. If we lose this warehouse, we lose this fight."

Lan felt the color drain from his face. The thought that he was advancing, doing something, in the previous battle kept him going. Now he would simply be waiting for death, and struggling to fight it off as best he could. "Isn't there a way to stop these guys before they get to us? Isn't there a base or something to attack?"

Raika shook his head. "These are terrorists Lan. Multiple factions of terrorists are bursting about the entire world, causing havoc and hoping to enforce a new order. This isn't a conventional nation vs. nation war. We're fighting something amorphous and many headed." He ordered Lan and Dex behind what appeared to be a sturdy sandbag and crate fortification in the center of the warehouse. Lan quickly remembered, however, that the crates would be useless for stopping bullets and the sandbags would only hold so long. He gulped and clutched his gun so tightly that his knuckles turned white and his hands began to ache.

Dex seemed a total opposite to Lan, lazily leaning back against a crate and absentmindedly fiddling with a shotgun shell, his eyes glossy and distant. He dropped the shell and seemed to snap out of his trance and noticed Lan's pallid complexion. "Lighten up Lan," he said bracingly, "The odds are in our favor this time. We've got protection, the high ground and we're defending."

Lan looked at Dex and muttered back shakily, "They were defending last time too. Look where it got the terrorists."

Dex shook his head. "They attacked and suffered a counterattack; it's difficult to set up a solid position given the nature of yesterday's fighting. Urban combat is difficult, furious and requires a heightened state of awareness. Plus, they had no position to fall back on, no reinforcements and only a single exit strategy. And we were blocking that exit strategy. They had to fight uphill once we got involved. Once again, they're fighting uphill against a well-equipped, well-trained force that knows they're coming," he explained. Lan eased his grip on his gun somewhat. Putting it like that, he thought, eased the feeling in his stomach. Dex was right, defending a fortified position would be much easier. At this moment, however, Raika ran up with a piece of information calculated to curb Lan's increasing confidence.

"We just got wind from a scout sniper about their composition," he said gravely, "They've got RPG's."

Lan gulped. He had heard the term in reference to weapons once, and to hear it now, to know it could, it _would_ be used against him made him feel sick to his stomach. "Wh-what are we gonna do?" he asked uneasily.

Raika shrugged. "Pick off the RPG's before anyone else. You see someone dash for a fallen launcher you pick him off too. If you can get your hands on one, then bully for you. Just keep in mind: danger close."

Lan mouthed his parting words. "What's that mean?" he asked, feeling a bit foolish.

"It means watch where you point the damn thing. It explodes. It also means watch yourself, because you don't to obstruct anyone that's firing it," explained Dex, "And finally, don't you dare fucking fire that thing with me behind it. The backblast will kill." Lan gulped and nodded.

"We've got movement to the north! They're coming!" shouted a soldier near the front door of the warehouse, "Get in position!"

Lan dug in behind the sandbags and perched his gun on them to steady it. The sights were shaking still, and he noticed that his hand was trembling terribly. He took several deep breaths and the sights steadied somewhat. Outside, he heard the machine gun let loose a hail of fire. A cacophony of fire began to ring out, and he was disoriented once again. The sandbags he was using for cover were only ten feet or so away from the huge doors to the warehouse, both of which had been thrown open. Small figures began to appear in the distance and Lan immediately began squeezing off shots. He had fired off no more than five bullets when Dex stopped him.

"Lan, you aren't using a gun meant for long range. We're here to shoot whoever gets close to the warehouse. Let Chaud, Raika and the others deal with the guys at range," he explained.

Lan huffed. "So I might die just waiting?" he said angrily.

Dex sighed. "That's life," he said simply. "Don't draw their fire and you'll be fine."

For fifteen agonizing minutes, Lan laid crouched behind the sandbags, simply watching the horizon as figures came up and dropped. Then, something calculated to make his stomach drop appeared on the horizon: a vehicle.

Raika shouted over the din, "Transport!" He fired off a round at the truck's engine block; the engine was worthless now and the vehicle essentially useless, but the vehicle's momentum kept it going. With a huge crash, it slammed directly into the machine gunner's nest. The figures on the horizon became more numerous now, and the soldiers that had pushed them back were now falling back and falling down. Those that were in the warehouse began shouting at each other.

"Dig in!"

"Get in position!"

"They're coming in, prepare for the attack!"

The figures became very clear now and at once the sounds of fire rang loud and close in Lan's ears. He started firing himself, aiming small bursts at whatever figure fell into his sights. Above, Raika shouldered his sniper and readied his Cx4. He sprinted to the rear of the warehouse and dug in behind Chaud, who was providing accurate fire from above at the battle that raged below. Something caught Chaud's eye; a figure outside of the warehouse was standing in a very conspicuous position; he was holding an RPG-7. "RPG! GET OUT OF THERE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. A loud crack and whoosh signaled the firing of the rocket as it careened towards the warehouse. With a massive crash and explosion it hit the concrete wall next to the door of the warehouse and blew it apart. The concussive force of the explosion knocked Lan flat on his back and blew apart some of the sandbags. He lay there, dazed as dust and rubble fell to the ground and drifted through the air. The sounds of battle had been replaced with a loud ringing and as he got up everything around him seemed to be going in slow motion. Dex had blood on his face; a piece of concrete had cut the side of his head. In front of him a pile of body parts writhed; groans and cries emanated from the more intact of the pile.

Instinctively, Lan felt on his chest for his pistol, his UMP now lying useless a few feet away and raised it. He looked around, his pistol shaking somewhat in his hand. A sharp kick connected with the side of his face and when he opened his eyes he saw a revolver pointed at his face. He closed his eyes and braced for the sound of gunfire; a loud boom rang out and when looked up he saw the figure still standing there, blood dripping down it's chest, empty space where a head used to be. He felt himself being dragged behind crates and his gun being roughly shoved into his hands.

"Next time," said Dex, "look around, not just in front of yourself. I can't always be here to save your ass." With a grin, he peeked around the crate and fired off a few shells.

Lan shook his head repeatedly and then peeked around the crates. The ringing in his ears was subsiding and the sounds of battle were beginning to crash louder in his ears. A second RPG shot went wide and blew out a portion of the warehouse's roof, raining wood, glass, bits of steel and dust down upon the combatants. The terrorists had pushed into the warehouse, and Lan realized that he had been dragged some thirty feet back into the secondary position; the sandbags he had been using as cover had been mostly blown away. He couldn't tell if they were winning or losing, all he could discern was that there were far fewer soldiers still fighting than he remembered. He saw a group of three enemies running forward, firing off automatic weapons and promptly let loose half a magazine in their direction. Two of them fell immediately, but the third staggered and fell to his knees. Lan could barely see with all of the dust in the air, and the bullets made him only less inclined to peek out from cover, but as far as he could tell, the man was huffing very heavily and clutching his left rib. He heard a series of wet, hacking coughs and knew that he had punctured his lungs. He peeked out once more, his weapon ready and fired directly at the man's chest. Blood exploded out of it and he fell forward and lay still.

Lan reloaded and looked grimly down at the fresh magazine he was inserting into his gun.

He heard it at last, beneath all of the gunfire and crashing of stone and wood being perforated, was the chorus of men screaming and breathing their last.

_/terminate_

**Author's Notes: Hope you enjoyed the first byte. Next byte will be up much later, as this is going to be a series with much, much longer chapters. It will be updated VERY infrequently, as Crimson Azure takes precedence.**


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